HONG KONG, Aug 20: Asian shares closed mostly up on Wednesday, buoyed by a surge of more than seven percent in the Chinese stock market on hopes that Beijing will move to support equity prices and economic growth.

The Shanghai bourse rocketed 7.63 per cent, its biggest percentage gain in nearly four months. That gave investors a rare day of respite from a plunge of around 60 percent in Chinese stocks since a peak in October last year.

Dealers said there were rumours that Beijing would take steps to shore up the ailing stock market.

Wednesday’s surge also followed a claim that China is considering an economic stimulus package of up to 400 billion yuan (58.4 billion dollars) to boost growth.

The top leadership is carefully considering an economic stimulus package of at least 200 billion yuan to 400 billion yuan, or one percent to 1.5 per cent of gross domestic product, JPMorgan Chase economist Frank Gong said in a note.

TOKYO: Japanese share prices edged down 0.10 per cent to close at a fresh one-month low as renewed concerns about the fallout from the US financial crisis kept buyers away, dealers said.

The Tokyo Stock Exchange’s benchmark Nikkei-225 index dropped 13.36 points to end at 12,851.69. The broader Topix index of all first-section shares lost 2.17 points or 0.18 per cent to 1,233.37.

HONG KONG: Hong Kong shares closed 2.18 per cent up, dealers said.

The benchmark Hang Seng Index rose 446.89 points to 20,931.26. Turnover was 62.33 billion Hong Kong dollars (7.99 billion US).

Ping An Insurance jumped eight per cent, while Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing was up 5.24 per cent.

SYDNEY: Australian shares closed 1.3 per cent higher, dealers said.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index added 63.1 points to close at 4,929.5 and the broader All Ordinaries rose 67.1 points to 4,997.5.

Turnover was 1.25 billion shares worth $5.65 billion (4.93 billion US).

SINGAPORE: Singapore shares closed 0.86 per cent higher, dealers said.

The blue-chip Straits Times Index closed up 23.36 points at 2,751.75 on volume of 1.06 billion shares worth 1.21 billion Singapore dollars (855 million US).

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian share prices closed 0.4 per cent higher, dealers said.

The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index rose 3.79 points to end at 1,073.21.

JAKARTA: Indonesian shares closed 1.3 per cent higher, dealers said.

The Jakarta Composite Index rose 27.21 points to 2,069.7.

Foreign bargain buying in most commodity stocks drove the main index higher, a trader told Dow Jones Newswires.

Top gainers included coal miner Bumi, which rose six per cent to 5,250 rupiah, and rival Indo Tambangraya, which jumped four per cent to 23,200.Palm oil producer Astra Agro rose 2.2 per cent to 16,300 rupiah.

WELLINGTON: New Zealand share prices closed 0.4 per cent higher, dealers said.

The benchmark NZX-50 index closed up 12.91 points to 3,331.02.

Telecom closed up seven cents at $3.29. Fletcher Building ended up 23 cents at $7.03.

It has been a pretty quiet day all around, said Adrian Vance of Hamilton Hindin Greene.

MUMBAI: Indian shares closed 0.92 per cent higher, dealers said. The benchmark 30-share Sensex index rose 134.5 points to 14,678.23.

Bargain hunting in index stocks propped the markets up, said a dealer with the Sahara Mutual fund, adding that inflation worries still weighed on sentiment.—AFP